1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a wrapping construction of an absorbent article, and more particularly to a wrapping construction of an absorbent article, capable of individually compactly wrapping an absorbent article having a pair of wing portions without degrading the slip-preventive properties while providing an absorbent article which is easy to take out.
2. Description of Related Art
Absorbent articles having a pair of wing portions on opposing sides of a sanitary napkin body are widely used.
In a conventional wrapping construction for individually wrapping a sanitary napkin having wings, peelable materials separate from an individual-wrapping material are needed, so that adhesive portions of the body and the wings can be covered with the peelable materials.
Due to the conventional design, it is required for the user of such a conventional wrapping construction to take the trouble of removing the peelable materials provided to cover the adhesive portion of the body and the adhesive portion of the wing portions when the user wears a sanitary napkin. Moreover, the peelable materials thus removed remain as waste products. In addition, the adhesive portion of the body and the adhesive portions of the wing portions are left uncovered from the time the peelable materials are removed to the time the adhesive portions are attached to an undergarment such as sanitary shorts or the like. Besides, since the peelable materials are left as waste materials, handling difficulties occur. Therefore, handling of the sanitary napkin is likely to be completed incorrectly. As a consequence, there is a high probability that the adhesive portion of the body and the adhesive portions of the wing portions are accidentally attached together. This eventually makes it difficult for the absorbent article to fully perform as designed in many cases. The problems so far described can be hindrances for providing a favorable leak-preventive absorbent article.
For the purposes of obviating the above problems, various proposals have been made with respect to a wrapping construction of an absorbent article.
One such proposal is made by JPT. 506799/1993, in which a pair of wing portions are provided with adhesive portions in a wrapping construction of a sanitary napkin. The wing portions are folded back towards a topsheet side and the adhesive portion on each wing portion is protected by a peelable paper.
However, this conventional wrapping construction has the following shortcomings: the peelable papers protecting the adhesive portions of the wing portions must be removed before the sanitary napkin is worn. Moreover, since the peelable papers remain as waste products after removal, the problem of handling difficulty is left unsolved. Furthermore, since separate materials such as peelable papers are necessary to the conventional wrapping construction, the manufacturing process becomes complicated and productivity worsens while the cost is increased.
Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Application No. 39820/1995 also proposes a wrapping construction of a sanitary napkin. A pair of wing portions are folded upon a topsheet of the sanitary napkin and longitudinal opposing end portions of the wrapping material are allowed to extend outwardly of longitudinal opposing end portions of the sanitary napkin. The extending wrapping material is folded back at one end edge thereof upon the topsheet so that adhesive portions of the wing portions may be protected by peelable portions disposed on the outer surface of the extending wrapping material.
However, in this wrapping construction, since it is necessary that one edge portion of longitudinal end of the wrapping material is allowed to extend outwardly of a corresponding one longitudinal end edge portion of the sanitary napkin in order to protect the adhesive portions of the wing portions, a large quantity of wrapping material is required. Therefore, the cost is increased. Moreover, since the wrapping construction is not compact, it is inconvenient to carry and therefore, portability is poor.
In the present specification, "edge portion" means an end edge portion in the longitudinal end of the wrapping material or the absorbent article, and is also referred to as "longitudinal end edge portion" hereinafter.